problems for the country, maybe even a crisis. brings us to dan lothian at the white house this morning. dan, good morning. senate goes back to work this afternoon. the house will return tomorrow. what could really be done by lame duck congress? >> well, look, the hope is that there will be some kind of compromise here, because as you pointed out most americans believe that if there is no agreement there really could be a crisis here. so you are seeing some softening from republicans who took that no tax pledge back to 1986. first it was saxby chambliss. now south carolina republican senator lindsey graham. take a listen. >> when you're $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid the coming grief, and republicans, republicans should put revenue on the table, we're this far in debt, we don't generate enough revenue. i want to buy down debt and cut rates to create jobs. but i will violate the pledge, long story short, for the good of the country, only if democrats will do entitlement reform. >> and i think that's important what he said there. only i